Women Limited By Roles
In honor of the recently announced Academy Award nominations, let’s talk movies for a second.
In recent years, the quality of women’s roles has roughly equaled their quantity. Which is to say that there hasn’t been much of either.
Last year, however, was different. Of the five nominated for Best Actress - Susan Sarandon, Elisabeth Shue, Sharon Stone, Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson - any two could have traded places with the eminently eligible Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Funny, eh? Some years the industry is hard pressed to nominate five, and this year they can’t find space for seven.
But even if the number of Oscar-worthy roles has increased, just what kinds of roles are we talking about? Well, Sarandon plays a nun in “Dead Man Walking,” and Thompson assumes the character of a respectable Jane Austen heroine in “Sense and Sensibility.”
The other three nominees, though, play variations on the one kind of character traditionally open to women (and, more than once, rewarded with an Oscar). Each is a kind of whore.
Streep portrays a middle-age adulterer in “The Bridges of Madison County.” Shue is a Las Vegas hooker in “Leaving Las Vegas.” And in “Casino” Stone is a Las Vegas “escort” - essentially a prostitute who’s free to earn a living because she rewards one or more casino employees with a kickback.
As for the Best Supporting Actress nominees, Mira Sorvino also is a streetwalker. Only she lives in New York.
Now, for comparison’s sake, take a look at the Best Actor category. Anthony Hopkins portrays the title character of “Nixon,” Nicolas Cages drinks himself to death in “Leaving Las Vegas,” Richard Dreyfuss is a veteran teacher in “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” Sean Penn plays a death-row inmate in “Dead Man Walking” and Massimo Troisi delivers mail and writes poetry in “The Postman.”
Once again, three roles involve characters who bear serious flaws - a deposed president, a doomed alcoholic and a convicted killer.
But ask yourself this: Are any of these roles dependent on the sex of the actor playing them? (Never mind that “Nixon” is a bio-pic; think of any politician caught in any set of lies.) And then ask yourself this: Is the day ever going to come when “good” roles for women will mean roles that don’t relegate them merely to activities based solely on their gender?
We should live so long.
, DataTimes MEMO: Common Ground is written on alternating weeks by Dan Webster and Rebecca Nappi. Write to them in care of The Spokesman-Review, Features Department, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210-1615. Or fax, (509) 459-5098.